Daily Image - Aug 2013 Archive

01 Aug 13. For those of you expecting something creative it being Thursday,you will be disappointed. But at least something remotely related to the trip to Mt Rainier I made yesterday. We left in very foggy weather which had turned to heavy haze and clouds by the time we made it to the mountain. With several stops along the road to Paradise to shoot waterfalls, the parking lot at the visitor's center was jammed packed when we arrived to a fully clouded top half of Mt Rainier. But the lower grounds were fully in display with the most intense greens I've ever seen there and wild flowers fully on display, lupine in particular blanketing large sections of green in deep purple. Truly spectacular. As were the clouds which suggested we might want to be prepared for a storm. With that in mind we took an easy hike to Edith Falls, a shot from which was the first Daily Image sent back in 2006. While enjoying the magnificent views around the falls it became readily apparent that we were in for a storm so we hurried off the trail to the parking lot only to get caught in a strong rain which turned into first a major thunder & lightning storm, with one bolt striking a tree next to the Lodge at Paradise setting it afire, then doused by a gully washer accompanied by heavy hail. After about 20 minutes of intense storm, it blew off to sunshine, blue sky, and finally an orange, strawberry and the red sunset which we viewed while standing amidst the most spectacular blooms of wild flowers I've ever seen at Lake Tipsoo in the past 7 years I've been visiting that area. Truly a marvelous day (0700 - 0230) spent with friends from MD. So today, since I've yet to download yesterday's shoot, you'll just have to settle for a simple shot of a sun flower, but one in which I've attempted to really show off the texture of the flower. Nikon D300; 18 - 300; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/1000 sec @ f /11.

02 Aug 13. I'll start sharing the trip to Mt Rainier with this shot taken near the end of the day. This was captured around 2000 and will give you an idea as to how the wild flowers were displaying. You are viewing Mt Rainier looking westerly at its eastern side from the southeastern end of the lake. You should be able to pick out at least 5 distinct species in this grouping, and the density you see was typical of the entire area around Tipsoo Lake. The clouds in this setting were moving to the right and were to become quite dramatic shortly thereafter as the sun began to sink beneath the horizon lighting them such that they put on quite a display of color in the red spectrum. We were lucky in that the mosquitoes were not very bad, and our use of insect repellent kept them completely away, a nice change from some of my previous trips. The entire area surrounding the lake was carpeted in flowers such as you see here, although different species inhabited different areas of the landscape. As the light levels were falling fast, this was taken in fairly dim light and doesn't have as much contrast as you might get during mid day. I considered modifying the image to give it such a look, but decided to leave it more like what we were seeing at the time. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/13 sec @ f /14 on a tripod.

05 Aug 13 I had picked this image for today on Sunday and had planned on sending it as usual, but a spur of the moment decision to make another trip to the mountain resulted in an arrival back home at 0030 this morning and I was just too tired to send out anything at that time. So apologies for the lateness of today's submission. I had hoped for another day on the mountain like I experienced last Wednesday but such was not to be. Still, any day on the mountain is a good day, so I can't complain too much. Considering another trip on Thursday, but this would be to Mt Baker, vice Mt Rainier. This shot was taken immediately after the storm abated Wednesday evening with some rather beautiful light. It is hard to beat the light associated with storms for drama, and if I had my choice of light for most things, it would be the kind associated with storms. I've cropped the original just a tiny bit, added a little contrast enhancement to both the clouds and their reflections, and done a little smoothing of that contrast enhancement to keep the clouds from looking unnatural. Otherwise, this is what we saw that evening at Reflection Lake following the torrential rain and hail. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/200 sec @ f /11.

06 Aug 13. Our (I take Maggie with me for company and she never complains about anything I do) planned return home Sunday by 2200 failed to materialize due in part to one of us continuously stopping to take just "one more" photo. Light being what it is, the photographer in me just can't resist getting that never to be seen again image, irrespective of its real quality. This image is one of those that participated in the delay, and while it may be nice to see, certainly isn't a really must have, but just maybe a nice to have, shot. I've seen clouds like this before, but not on this coast and they were usually associated with hurricanes, generally shortly after they had passed. So it caught my eye to say the least. Taken around 2030, the sky was not quite as dark as I'm sharing it but the look was easily achieved by just a bit of under exposure, a practice frequently applied back in the "old" slide film days. I've cropped the original to remove some very blank sky that added nothing to the image, but otherwise it is a straight from the camera shot. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/200 sec @ f / 9 on a tripod.

07 Aug 13. I had two choices of the image for today, one with silky water and the other not; since the fad theses days seems to be with the silky approach, that's what you get. This is a shot of a falls that I have visited often, even taken others to see, but last week was the first time I bothered to take the walk to the base of the falls and shoot it from that perspective. Now why I never did that prior is a mystery to me, for the walk is a very easy and rewarding one. I was fortunate enough to do it at a time when the wildflowers were in full bloom, and in my mind they are what make this particular shot. For those of you with sharp eyes, you'll notice that I've broken my general rule of not allowing people to ruin the shot and left a few in for perspective. Note also that although their perspective, relative to the falls is correct, that of the wildflowers is not. The are no where as large as they seem for I zoomed the lens to a wide viewing angle and positioned myself low to make them prominent in the composition. The "trip" form the road level parking lot to the base of the falls takes perhaps 10 minutes, at least on the way down; back up maybe a bit longer. If you visit, this is one of three perspectives you can enjoy, the other two being the river just prior to it plummeting over the precipice and the view from the top and it makes the plunge. All three very different, and all three needed to complete the picture. I recommend all three views to fully appreciate Narada Falls and that you take your time in viewing. I've cropped the original a small amount to remove a couple of distracting areas and added a very tiny amount of contrast enhancement to areas of the falls. That's all the "correction" for this image. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/30 sec @ f / 22 hand held.

08 Aug 13. While moving boxes of books from our storage shed into the house for finally finding their proper place on shelves, I thought that I felt something brush against my pants but didn't really give it the attention I should have when it occurred. Returning to the site of the encounter for another load of boxes, I noticed a large golden toad siting very close to where I was walking and realized that it was this critter that had brushed against my pants, supposedly jumping out of the way as I passed. Seeing it on the cement, I gently "encouraged" it to move away from the house and into the woods, only to have it maneuver back into an area of danger. The cherubs then wanted to photograph it so I attempted to position it so they could get a few shots only to have it move into the brush where I wanted it in the first place. At that point I decided I'd like to grab a shot or two and tried to get it positioned for a nice portrait, but at this point it was becoming obvious that it no longer wanted to be so cozy with us. I did finally get it to sit in a reasonably nice spot for perhaps one minute and grabbed a few shots before it just hopped into the woods not to be seen again. I'm sure it is probably still around, as we have seen it several times in the front yard, usually when doing yard work or mowing. Now if I could just convince it to sit near us when we are outside it could have a nice nightly feast of mosquitoes. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f / 7.1

09 Aug 13. From my perspective, the most interesting of all the wildflowers, maybe even all of the flowers, is the Pasqueflower, Anemone patens. Many of you may know it as something else, but this appears to be the currently accepted Genus species name for the flower. What ever you call it, it begins life as an absolutely lovely purple and yellow flower perhaps 6 to 9 inches in height maturing to a seed head of more than double that. The leaves of the plant are a bit fuzzy, and in the center of the bloom one can see the future seed head, but it is not until it matures that you get to see this tall stalk having a very terrible bad hair day. Shot straight on it in an O.K. photo, but when back lit it becomes spectacular. The problem with the back lighting is that it tends to blow everything out unless you use something like HDR photography, but overlapping multiple exposures with a blowing plant, the wind is almost always blowing where they grow here on our mountains, just doesn't work all that well. Last Sunday evening, as the light was starting to dim, but still providing for a back lit situation, I was able to capture the plant without blowing out any part of it. Coupled with the blue lupine and red paint brush, it made for a most patriotic shot. This is a cropped image to give a feel for both the expanse of the area as well as eliminating a rather washed out mountainous background, but otherwise as shot. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/250 sec @ f /10 on a tripod.

12 Aug 13. For those of you who enjoy seeing / photographing light houses, this part of our country has more than its fair share which I think is wonderful. One of them is located just a few miles from here, at least 3 more within an hour's travel, and many more 2-3 hours away. In short, you could collect at least 6 different ones in an easy and comfortable day's shoot, probably more like 10 if you pressed just a bit. This one is located in Port Townsend, about an hour away. Most of the area in which it would be easy to shoot the building is off limits, so getting the shot offers a challenge or two. Now if you happen to have a PC (perspective control) lens in your bag, the challenge really isn't, but if you don't, you will encounter a large amount of perspective distortion in getting the shot, which then must either be corrected for or just left alone giving a very tipsy building. Although I have one of the needed lenses, it wasn't with me the day I took the shot, so I've elected to do some perspective control in post processing. I also decided to add in a small amount of texture enhancement which resulted in the sky looking as though I had printed the image on a grainy paper, a look I liked, so I left it in to simulate just that. I could have removed it from the sky and just allowed the effect to enhance the building, as you likely can't tell the difference in the sand, but I thought the grain added something to the final look. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1600 sec @ f / 7.1.

13 Aug 13. In response to a frequent request to see both the original and the altered copy, I'm electing to share a monochrome version of the color image I sent on the 1st for this week's B&W Tuesday. If you have access to that earlier image, you might want to set these two side by side and compare. If you tossed it, most likely I would think, you can find it here, if interested. With the color not a distraction, you will now be able to concentrate on texture and composition considerably easier. Note the obvious difference in both the background on the right side of the image and the texture in the petals and leaves. As your eye moves about the frame the white petals (bright) will keep bringing your eye to the center while the gray to black (dark) leaves on the right will provided for depth as they tend to be more of a solid dark color than those on the left. Look over the color image first for things that grab your attention, then move to the B&W to see if your eye finds more that attracts it. I'm betting you will find more to identify in the monochrome image. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/1000 sec at f /11. As to why I shot at ISO 400 and 1/1000 sec and not ISO 200 and 1/500sec, it was a very windy day.

14 Aug 13. While walking around Tipsoo Lake a couple of weeks ago concentrating on wildflowers, I completely missed what was going on around me and let a lovely sunset escape my eye and lens. A bit frustrated with my having missed such a nice opportunity, I began making my way back to the area in which I could have gotten a couple of nice shots. To my pure delight and amazement, there was to be a reprise of that evening's show and this time, instead of a lovely creamy orange, the show featured red as the primary player. I took several shots, including a couple 5 image series intended for creating a HDR composite. After playing with the HDR series in the computer, I decided that this image was not suited for HDR and approached it from a different aspect. First I did make a 4 shot HDR composite tossing out the bright frame as unnecessary. Once I had the HDR frame, I masked out all the HDR effect save for a small amount at the bottom of the image so as to prevent the shadow material from becoming a silhouette. If you prefer having the shadows fully drop out (become a silhouette) you can easily change that for yourself. Then I added just a pinch of contrast enhancement to the sky, the color of which, is just as it was that evening; I have not amplified it in any way. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/15 sec (middle of 5 exposures) @ f / 6.3.

15 Aug 13. One of the big software companies had a live webinar Wed morning featuring one of the gurus from Kelby Systems. The show got cut off early due to technical problems, but before it ended the guest presenter used an image of Christine Falls from Mt Rainier National Park. The image was immediately recognizable and I couldn't help but think, let's follow his exact steps with such an image to see what I could create. So that's what I did to come up with the image you are seeing today. My perspective is a bit different - I have one of the same things he used but that would be boring - in that I'm showing the bottom two thirds of the falls, all that can be seen from the viewing stand. There is much more to Christine Falls than what I'm showing in this image, but this is the totality of the lower "falls" part. To show it all in any acceptable perspective would require a video so we'll stay with just this view. In actuality there was little I did to the original, but here are the steps. Detail enhancement was added to the entire image, then removed from the water portions. Then a vignette was added to force your eye to the falls, and finally, I added a very slight curves adjustment to increase the global contrast. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 7.1.

16 Aug 13. This is another image from the series shot in early morning light at a local garden display. The previous two were of a set of calla lilies that I manipulated quite a bit and a group of fuchsias which I didn't. This shot of begonias is also a straight shot. As the light in the display area was primarily shade light, I used fill flash to both supplement the available light as well as stop the slight movement present from the morning air warming. That resulted in the image being a bit flatter than I would have preferred, so I added a bit of contrast enhancement to compensate for that lost with the fill flash. I also provided a tiny bit of brightening to just the stamen of the flower to help illustrate their fuzziness. I also cropped the original 2 x 3 format to get the final result. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f / 8.

19 Aug 13. Walking around the property these past few days has revealed a surprisingly large number of maple leaves already on the ground which I think in mid August is a bit early. However, on my two trips to Mt Rainier earlier this month I noticed a number of Vine Maples and what I believe are Bradford Pears in bright red plumage so perhaps what I'm thinking, an early fall, isn't too far off. Or, more likely, my memory of when these particular trees change is faulty and things are just progressing in their normal manner. The autumn color shot for today was taken in early September in Grand Tetons National Park and at the time it was just past the peak of the season but Grand Tetons is a fair bit higher in altitude then where we reside so September color there would seem appropriate. The Aspens in Grand Tetons were absolutely gorgeous but were unfortunately not as densely clustered as in other areas displaying more like blobs of paint splattered about the canvas by the Artist as opposed to a solid wall of color. Nonetheless, they were a sight to see and one we won't easily forget. The small clump of trees was being bathed is strong side light giving me the feeling that they were glowing. Nikon D200; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f /10.

20 Aug 13. One normally visits Reflection Lakes in Mt Rainier National Park with the goal of finding the mountain reflecting perfectly clear on an absolutely flat lake surface. And one is frequently disappointed if that is the only image acceptable. Over the years of visiting Reflection Lakes I've encountered the perfect conditions only once, but I've never come away disappointed with what I got when I visited. Each and every visit has been a different view of the mountain and its reflection, and with just a bit of effort, regardless of the conditions provided by Mother Nature, there has always been a good to great picture awaiting me. Our visit there the day of the storm was no exception, and we had two different opportunities to take some stunning photos as long as we were willing to work with what we had. Now it is pretty hard to beat stormy conditions, and those afforded us that day were nothing less than spectacular. This is a shot just as the storm abated with the clouds still raging above and the mist rising out of the dell. The light was stark, but still quite bright, and the wind had quieted down, so hand holding was still an acceptable approach for the conditions. I've converted the original to B&W so that you are working more with textures and contrast vice color which I hope will force you to take a few moments to really look the image over carefully. My monitors are giving me different results for the large image but a consistent view for the smaller edition. Those of you receiving the larger image may notice a lot of noise in the clouds, something that shows up on only one of my 3 monitors. Not sure why, and it is not present in the smaller image. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/160 @ f /11.

21 Aug 13. Every so often I hear folks talk about software as though one program can do everything. This seems to be a trend started by our "friends' in Redmond and mimicked by others in San Jose who would like us to believe that all we need is their product to do everything. In the Unix world the typical approach is for one small program to do one thing extremely well and to then pass its output to another small program that behaves similarly, and to continue in this manner until the desired outcome is achieved. If one were to look in Jan's kitchen you would find many different sizes and types of pots, pans, dishes, utensils, etc, much as you would in my tool chest where in just wrenches alone you would find 6 to 8 different kinds, all of which could do the same job, but not each of which could do the same job as efficiently or well. So too it is with software, where multiple programs might all accomplish the same endpoint, for example an HDR output, but not all capable of accomplishing the same results on the same set of images. Thus different programs providing different results from the same set of material. Now the manufactures of each of the programs will tell you that their program will do it all and do it better then the competition, but it isn't true, just as no one tool in the tool chest or the kitchen can accomplish every task encountered. Thus it is important to look at various approaches to the task of creating the best possible image from the RAW material captured by the camera. Today's submission was run through three different programs to get the final desired result. The original was taken just minutes before the storm broke, and at the time the light was getting dimmer by the minute but still very contrasty, with the mountain very bright and the valley quite shaded, and the wind was rapidly increasing, tossing the flowers to and fro. Not ideal conditions for a shoot, but by taking a couple of different exposures and blending them together we get a reasonably acceptable image. 10 minutes later we were in a drenching downpour! Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/1250 sec @ f / 5.6.

22 Aug 13. A little bit of Vincent today for Thursday Theatrical. While just joy riding in Sequim Wednesday evening we came upon a field of freshly harvested soybeans, or at least what we believe were soybeans. The cut patterns in the field were quite interesting, and we stopped so I could grab a few shots. The light was such that it not only provided for some great shadows in the straw, but also made for a very yellow color that was almost surreal. When I started to work with it I had the feeling that it was going to come across as too unreal, so I ran it through three different filters to get the effect I thought most interesting which is what I'm sharing. You may see some slight resemblance of the master's work. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f /11.

23 Aug 13. With at least 5 major fires burning in our formerly evergreen state, it is rather easy to shoot some very dramatic sunsets, such as the ones I've sent earlier this month. Here is another that is not perhaps as dramatic but much more varied in its presentation. While it was taken last year while haying one evening, it is of the nature I would expect to be seeing with all the burn material circulating in the air. This is basically straight from the camera, the only enhancement being a very slight texture enhancement on the darker clouds for effect. For those of you who look at the exif data I include with all these images, you will observe that it was underexposed by a 1/3 stop, but as my D300s overexposes by 1/3 stop, I have the camera set to compensate for that with the 1/3 stop underexposure set as the default. On the other side of those clouds are the Olympic mountains, but they are not visible with this type of weather pattern. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f /11.

26 Aug 13. With an open mind, and a little attention to detail, even the most mundane things can display an amazing amount of beauty. Walking around in our local hardware store's garden area a few weeks back, I was intrigued by a rain barrel that contained a volume of water and a fountain splashing that water about inside of it. I thought it would be fun to try and stop some of the bubbling water in mid stream (spurt?) and shot a few frames hoping to get at least one I would find interesting. I did, actually more than one, but this is my favorite of the group. The part that caught my eye the most was the amount of air trapped in the water and how that resonated with the light from the flash. The interior of the barrel was sufficiently dark that a burst of light was required to stop the motion of the water, and this type of shot can't be done, as far as I'm aware, without a form of light occupying a very short duration of time. The intense rusty color of the barrel is from the flash, and the fine detail was achieved by applying a bit of detail enhancement. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f / 8 with full flash.

27 Aug 13. Having spent a portion of the past two afternoons converting perhaps 3 cords of logs into splits for firewood, 2/3 of the way done, my brain kinda has trees as a theme, so I've selected a shot taken on our last trip to Craters of the Moon National Monument that I've had ready to go for quite a long time but which just never quite clicked. After contemplating it for a while, I realized that the reason it hadn't resonated prior was that it was just a bit too flat, having been converted to B&W from the original color. While it had nice contrast, it just didn't have sufficient detail. So, with the application of a couple of different detail enhancements, plus a bit of reworking of the B&W look, I came up with what I'm sharing for today. This was taken a day after a significant snowstorm had closed off most of the park, primarily because one particular ranger didn't know how to drive in snow, in the only area that was still accessible. I was walking around what was nothing more than a flat circular trail, when I came upon a section that offered some gradual sloping terrain covered in rocks, sage brush like plants, and drifts and pockets of wind blown snow, and some very interesting old trees. The sky was a dark blue, almost Navy blue, and accented with rows of white and gray clouds. It made for some nice color, but the B&W version gives you, I hope, a better "feel" for the temps and wind. A week prior it was in the 80s and very sunny, equally nice in its own way, but the snowy environment was much more to my liking. Nikon D300; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f /16.

28 Aug 13. A week ago I shared an image taken at the rest/viewing area for Edith Creek and Edith Falls. If you were to walk in a 2 o'clock direction from where it was taken, and then walked down a path of about 20 steps, you would find yourself at the lower viewing area for Edith Falls, and the view you would have is what I'm sharing for today. It is not the most spectacular of all the falls in the park, and not extremely large (folks in the image for perspective), but it is still a nice place to visit while you are there. Situated at an elevation of 5,600 feet, it is a relatively easy walk from the Paradise parking lot. This was shot approximately 20 minutes before the storm broke, and the light was very contrasty, so I've blended two images together to get the result you are seeing. Had I waited another hour to 90 minutes to take this same shot I'm wagering the amount of water falling over those rocks would have been 4x as much, as other small water falls we passed following the storm's passing were raging with water when they normally would have been mere trickles to small spillways! Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/500 sec @ f / 5.

29 Aug 13. A couple months back I began working on a beta piece of software that was described as a "color program" to me by one of the company beta directors. When I first began testing it in its earliest stages my initial reaction was well, this is one filter I won't be purchasing. But as the beta program progressed my attitude about it changed and by the time the beta program concluded I decided that I rather liked it. Since that time I've used it with a few images with differing results, by which I mean that I found different ways of employing it in such a manner that I find it useful. The filter ships with over a 1,000 presets, each of which is infinity adjustable. The filter is still in need of refinements and the company is one that constantly updates its products never asking for an additional dime, so there is no doubt it will mature with time. If you are the curious type, the filter is called ReStyle and you can learn about it here. I've employed it for this Theatrical Thursday image of a group of poppy pods. Jan's immediate response to seeing it was that the poppies look like the glass watering pods that control the watering of her potted plants although what I had in mind was something more along the lines of a piece of stained glass art. You of course may see something entirely different, which is just fine, as this image is meant to be totally artsy. I made several other versions of this same shot with the filter, most of which are more along the lines of a real plant, but with slightly modified colors all of which could come off as being accurate. The beauty of the filter is the ease with which you can make such adjustments with virtually no effort. If you like playing with your images in Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture, or photoFXlab, download a trial copy and do some playing. I think you'll have some fun even if you don't save your efforts. Nikon D300s; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f/ 7.1.

30 Aug 13. Having moved from Ballard where I had extremely easy access to the boats and scenes at Fisherman's Terminal, I find that I really miss the photo opportunities that I took basically for granted for the 6 years we lived in that house before moving over here. One of the fun things I liked to do, as many of you may recall, is shoot reflections of the boats. When the water was smooth one could get some very nice inverted images of the vessels, and depending on the angle of the camera to the water and the distance from the water, the images could be varied greatly. When it was breezy, the shots took on a more creative look, such as the one for today, and I came to like both types equally well, which meant that every visit was a winner. I've taken the shot for today, cropped it by perhaps 2%, cloned out a small piece that was distracting, and added a very small amount of texture enhancement to portions of the reflection and none of the plain water. This is an image that I believe looks better from a distance as opposed to sitting right in front of your computer screen. Move back a few feet and compare the views. If you look at this critically you'll basically see nothing but ovals of color; relax your gaze and the boat should materialize. Nikon D300; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f / 9.